Political Risk: How Businesses and Organizations Can Anticipate Global Insecurity

Rice (Democracy), the former U.S. secretary of state and a political economy professor at Stanford's business school, and Zegart (Eyes on Spies), senior fellow at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation, and the Hoover Institution, distill the advice they convey to M.B.A. students on how companies should handle political risks ranging from indignant activists on Twitter to hostile foreign states with teams of dedicated hackers. The text offers a detailed framework for responding, illustrated with true stories of corporate nightmares (including those of SeaWorld, which failed to properly respond to a critical documentary film and related viral tweets, and Sony Pictures, which had internal emails stolen, allegedly by North Korea) and risk-management exemplars (notably FedEx, which employs "a bevy of meteorologists working around the clock"). The framework's steps-understand, analyze, mitigate, and respond-are broken down in separate chapters, with useful questions business leaders must ask ("How can we limit the damage if something bad happens?") and actions they should take (forming a crisis team ahead of time with defined roles). Clearly written and timely, this book will interest not only current and future business executives but also would-be whistle-blowers and corporate watchdogs. Agent: Wayne S. Kabak, WSK Management. (May)